Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Visit a former movie set and hike a trail or two at Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains.

For much of the past century, Paramount Ranch has served the needs of an entertainment industry always hungry for rustic outdoor scenery. Since 1980, however, the core of this property has been in the hands of the National Park Service. The park service set about restoring Western Town, a set where exteriors for hundreds of TV western episodes were shot in the 1950s and '60s. From 1991 to 1998, the property was used as the outdoor set for the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Today, the false fronts and dusty streets at Western Town serve primarily curious tourists.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Paramount Ranch is a popular spot for guided walks, but you can explore on your own just as easily. About four miles of trails lace the 326-acre property. A good bet this time of year is the 0.5-mile Coyote Trail. It starts behind Western Town, goes up a ravine, and circles back along a chaparral-dotted slope. Although they are fading fast, some spring wildflowers may still be seen -- woolly blue curls, owl's clover, verbena, mallow, and more. Near the uppermost part of the trail, there's a short spur leading up to a picnic site perched on a spot with a commanding view of Western Town, the brooding Goat Buttes to the southeast, and the dark summit ridge of the Santa Monica Mountains. The more-or-less pristine, mountainous area to the southeast is the huge Malibu Creek State Park, which sprawls over about 16 square miles of territory and contains plenty of movie sets familiar from movie and television features such as Tarzan, Planet of the Apes, and M*A*S*H.

Near Western Town you can follow portions of a former auto racetrack, the southern part of which has been incorporated into the Medea Creek Trail. There's a nice passage along the bank of Medea Creek, and an easy climb of a hillock near the intersection of Cornell Road and Mulholland Highway. At the top of that hillock you can look upon the soaring profile of Sugarloaf Peak just west, which (according to hearsay, at least) was the inspiration for the familiar mountain in the Paramount Pictures logo which appears at the start of many an old movie.

For more information about Paramount Ranch, including its program of guided interpretive walks, visit the National Park Service website www.nps.gov/samo.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

WAV College Church reminds kids that time is short

College is a formational time for decisions about belief

For much of the past century, Paramount Ranch has served the needs of an entertainment industry always hungry for rustic outdoor scenery. Since 1980, however, the core of this property has been in the hands of the National Park Service. The park service set about restoring Western Town, a set where exteriors for hundreds of TV western episodes were shot in the 1950s and '60s. From 1991 to 1998, the property was used as the outdoor set for the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Today, the false fronts and dusty streets at Western Town serve primarily curious tourists.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Paramount Ranch is a popular spot for guided walks, but you can explore on your own just as easily. About four miles of trails lace the 326-acre property. A good bet this time of year is the 0.5-mile Coyote Trail. It starts behind Western Town, goes up a ravine, and circles back along a chaparral-dotted slope. Although they are fading fast, some spring wildflowers may still be seen -- woolly blue curls, owl's clover, verbena, mallow, and more. Near the uppermost part of the trail, there's a short spur leading up to a picnic site perched on a spot with a commanding view of Western Town, the brooding Goat Buttes to the southeast, and the dark summit ridge of the Santa Monica Mountains. The more-or-less pristine, mountainous area to the southeast is the huge Malibu Creek State Park, which sprawls over about 16 square miles of territory and contains plenty of movie sets familiar from movie and television features such as Tarzan, Planet of the Apes, and M*A*S*H.

Near Western Town you can follow portions of a former auto racetrack, the southern part of which has been incorporated into the Medea Creek Trail. There's a nice passage along the bank of Medea Creek, and an easy climb of a hillock near the intersection of Cornell Road and Mulholland Highway. At the top of that hillock you can look upon the soaring profile of Sugarloaf Peak just west, which (according to hearsay, at least) was the inspiration for the familiar mountain in the Paramount Pictures logo which appears at the start of many an old movie.

For more information about Paramount Ranch, including its program of guided interpretive walks, visit the National Park Service website www.nps.gov/samo.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Why did Harrah's VP commit suicide last summer?

Did the fight the Rincon casino had with San Diego County over Covid play a part?
Next Article

Jayson Napolitano’s Scarlet Moon releases third Halloween album

Latest effort has the most local vibe
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader